With the One Piece anime entertaining its legions of fans for 25 years and counting, voice actor departures have certainly always been a possibility. With recent news of veteran Franky actor Kazuki Yao set to leave the role soon, hope burns brightly that a suitable talent will fill the role. Fortunately, courtesy of One Piece’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, we have confirmed that the successor to Yao will be named on December 22nd at Jump Festa 2025’s Red Stage.
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As part of a slew of anticipated announcements coming out of Jump Festa to close out 2024, including Jujutsu Kaisen, Dragon Ball, and more, One Piece is a particular headliner at Shueisha’s premier event. A tasteful ceremony will also be held at the event, where Yao will formally graduate from the role as they announce the recasting. The Straw Hats won’t be without a shipwright for any given moment as the beloved anime rides out the rest of its hiatus before returning to form to kick off Spring 2025.
Kazuki Yao Hypes Up Franky Successor Announcement
In addition to the One Piece staff announcement, Kazuki Yao took to X to post his thoughts on the departure. Given the decades of work he has put into the series, themselves atop further decades in the anime industry, his choice was not made lightly.
“It’s as if there’s now a rift between me and the ideal Franky I envisioned… so I’ve decided to temporarily step off the Sunny.” Yao said, speaking about his departure on his X account via Oricon, “It’s frustrating! It’s heartbreaking! I’m truly sorry. But a super successor has been lined up! Look forward to JF on 12/22.”
Yao not only expresses his sadness about departing the role, feeling he must temporarily step away but also expresses joy about who could take over his role. With Yao’s confidence and One Piece’s staff gearing up to unveil the new successor at Jump Festa 2025, the Thousand Sunny will surely be in good hands. It’ll give the fans enough time to get ready for a hopefully bright future, especially with One Piece’s live-action anime continuously unveiling new cast, as well.
H/T: One Piece on X, Kazuki Yao on X, Oricon